CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- With Charlotte mired in a six-game losingstreak, coach Paul Silas was desperate for a spark.

He found one in rookie Kemba Walker.

Walker scored a career-high 23 points in his first NBA start tolift the Bobcats to a 112-100 victory over the Golden StateWarriors on Saturday night.

Silas benched veteran Boris Diaw, saying he wanted to see adifferent look with a smaller lineup. Diaw, who had started afranchise-record 235 straight games, had scored just threepoints in the last two games and had drawn criticism recentlyfrom Silas for his inconsistent play.

"We weren't playing with that much energy and we weren't gettingthat much out of Boris, to tell you the truth," Silas said.

Walker, who proved he's a winner by leading Connecticut to anational title last season, provided instant energy.

He scored 15 points on 5 of 6 shooting in the first quarter asthe Bobcats built a 38-25 lead.

Walker found all sorts of ways to score early on, hitting a pairof 3-pointers, a fast-break layup and a nifty reverse layup. Heused his ability to get to the basket to draw three fouls anddrained all five free throws.

The 38 points were the most by the Bobcats in a quarter thisseason.

"It's always different starting, of course rather than comingoff the bench," Walker said. "I got a chance to really playmyself into a rhythm and just pick the tempo up early. I wantedto set the tone. That's what we did."

After the game, Diaw took the demotion in stride.

"You know it's a tough decision," Diaw said. "(Silas) is tryingto do the best thing possible to win the game."

Silas said Walker will continue to start.

Walker seemed to bring out the best in everyone.

Gerald Henderson, playing in the small forward spot for thefirst time since his college days at Duke, snapped out of amini-slump with a season-high 26 points. Center Byron Mullensscored 20 points and had seven rebounds, marking the ninth timein 11 games he's scored in double digits.

Before the game, Silas was a little worried about a sizedisadvantage by trotting out the combination of the 6-foot-1Walker and 6-foot D.J. Augustin, but it didn't turn out to be ahuge factor.

The Warriors only outrebounded the Bobcats by four. The Bobcatsmore than made up for it by shooting 50 percent from the field.

The Bobcats were much more aggressive with Walker in thestarting lineup, getting to the free throw line 38 times andconverting 29.

Walker's move to point guard caused nearly wholesale changes tothe Bobcats' starting lineup. Augustin moved to shooting guard,Henderson to small forward and Tyrus Thomas went from the No. 3spot back to power forward where Diaw had been playing.

"Oh boy, it was just wonderful tonight to see the guys just playand just run the court," Silas said. "We were talking aboutrunning and they did it tonight. A little change I thoughtreally helped that, putting Kemba in. I think time is the key tolife and it was the right time for him to get in there and he'sready. He's played like 11 or 12 games so far and he was ready."

The Bobcats led by as many as 22, but the Warriors cut the leadto six late in the fourth quarter.

However, Walker hit a jumper to set a new career high and thendrove the lane and drew a foul to put the Bobcats back up bydouble digits and seal their third win of the season.

The Warriors fell to 3-8 on the season, losing a game theydidn't expect to lose.

David Lee scored 21 of his 24 points in the first half andfinished with 16 rebounds.

"There's no way we should have lost that game," said Lee. "Wejust played (bad)."

Warriors coach Mark Jackson said for the first time this seasonhe was "embarrassed" by his team's performance.

"We didn't show up," Jackson said. "As a coach, that's on me.Somehow my guys didn't come out ready to play. We jumped on themearly and took our foot off the gas. We thought it was going tobe easy... This type of effort cannot be accepted."

Jackson said he felt like his team overlooked the Bobcats.

"This is the NBA and when you think you can just walk into abuilding and think you can beat them, it's not going to happen,"Jackson said. "These are legitimate players and we let them dowhatever they wanted to do. It was action they were veryfamiliar with and we made them comfortable and they picked usapart. It's a disappointing loss."

NOTES: This is the eighth time in 11 tries this season that anNBA team has won the third game in back-to-back-to-back games.... Diaw scored nine points off the bench for the Bobcats. ...The Bobcats were 7 of 13 on 3-point shots, while the Warriorswere 5 of 20. ... Bobcats owner Michael Jordan was sittingcourtside with his fiancee Yvette Prieto.

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